The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1887-02-03
More Reform Needed i,

The reader of the Washington letter in
the daily paper is RECALLED every twenty
four hours with an elaborate description
of an official reception, OF some other inn
posing social event at The Nation Capital
Columns are filled with details of the ele-
CANT costumes, the costly jeMelssand other
minutie of fashionable paraphernalia in
which the dignitaries are arrayed. Who
was there how they looked what they
wore how they acted who they preceded
or followed in the gastronomic attack, and
SO on, until the reader ceases to be amused
at the petty show. and experiences feel
ing of genuine disgust for the weakness
that makes such recital possible. Added
to this are ponderous discussions OF Off
cial etiquette in which the contending
knights of the quill exhaust whole batter
les ,of social lore, and argue with an ear
nestness the gravest affair Of state could
scarce command. Should theI wife of
Cabinet officer take precedence of the wife
of Senator Should Mrs. Senator Shoddy
call upon Mrs. Senator Newcomer Should
Mrs. Representative Pinchbeck leave a
card turned down at the left corner, or
Madame Machiavelli tell a lie by sending
word she is not at home when Mrs. Con-
sui Cheek pays an unappreciated call !!
These are questions which keep the social
crater in a perpetual state of eruption, and
one would imagine from the prominence
given them that they constitute the para
mount concern of the nation. And this
too under an Administration supposed to
DE operated on the strictest principles OF
Jeffersonian simplicity. and at the centre
Of nation founded upon the equal rights
of man. The flag that floats over the Cap
itol announces to the world the freedom
the equality before the law-of all who
shelter bensath its folds. 1t stands as the
emblem of d peoples protest against the
divine right of Kings, against the priyl-
leges of class, and the thralldom of caste,
and yet the pigmies who fit beneath it
write 'falsehoodn over every star OF Its
square and every stripe of its field. The
principles it represents are practically re-
garded as obsolete fictions that serve mere
" to delude credulous constituency, and
are in reality but mere cloak to conceal
from popular view the most offensive
species OF funkeyism-a weak, miserable
aping after royalty-a cringing subservi
ency to rank, groveling idolatry at The
shrine of Mammon.
. If the servants at Washington could re
alize the disgust with which their master
regard these petty exhibitions, they would
, at least refrain from making daily pa
rade of their weaknesses. Some day there
a may be rather rude awakening. There is
or ought to be, robust Americanism enough
q in this land to spare an appreclable guam
tity to the law making centre. 1t is need
ed there, God knows, and the quicker
comes the better. If the Anglomaniac
r who now play such fantastic tricks,
r cannot exist without a semblance of roy
o atty. let them emigrate, and bask in tn
y smile and slobber over the toe of the gen
! une article. This land belongs to tn
q men who reyclted against thralldom t.
r Kings, and they don't propose now to boy
4 down to sickly imitators of sover eighty
The day is supposed to have past when
THAT spell upon the minds of men
+ Breaks, never TO return again;
a That led them to adore
Those brazen things which bore such sway,
l Wlfh